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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Antlions, Lacewings, and Allies (Neuroptera) » Lacewings and Allies (Hemerobiiformia) » Green Lacewings (Chrysopidae) » Unidentified Debris-Carrying Larvae
Photo#1732551
Lacewing Larva with mealybug debris
Copyright © 2019 Buford Merle Shepard

Lacewing Larva with mealybug debris
Charleston, Merle Shepard County, South Carolina, USA
September 27, 2019
Size: 1/4 inch
I first thought that this was the Muhlygrass mealbug, Stemmatomerinx aciricula, a new pest of Muhlenbergia grass in South Carolina. Thanks to Ken Wolgemuth, who recognized it as a debris-carrying lacewing larva,cleverly dressed as a mealybug.
Contributed by Buford Merle Shepard on 27 September, 2019 - 11:59am
Last updated 26 November, 2019 - 1:33pm

Debris packet
Another possibility for the debris is the woolly alder aphid. If this is wooly aphid flocculence as opposed to trichomes, that's fairly unique to the debris packet of Chrysopa slossonae.
… Jonathan Hoskins, 3 July, 2021 - 8:09pm

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… Ken Wolgemuth, 27 September, 2019 - 2:02pm

I have to disagree.
This looks like a debris-carrying lacewing larva. You can even see the mandibles to the right. A mealybug wouldn't have mandibles.

Compare:

… Ken Wolgemuth, 27 September, 2019 - 12:45pm

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